Henrik in Seattle

OFUDG

November 20th, 2005

I just came [back from Eugene->Research?] where I've played in my second Ultimate Frisbee tournament called Oregon Fall Ultimate Disc Games. It was great fun, although I'm very happy with being back home since you get awfully tired of running around on a field all day. In the picture to the right you can see how I looked when I played. I have full-body under armour, a t-shirt, and pair of shorts, and a hat to keep my head warm.

The trip down took about six hours by car, and I went in a big van together with five other people. We then arrived to Eugene and found the house (belonging to a friend of one of the team's captains) where we were supposed to sleep and more or less directly went to bed. I slept in my sleeping bag on the floor. That was because I wasn't quick enough to grab one of the couches.

When we woke up next morning at roughly 7 am, we went to the field where we were supposed to play during the day. It was a turf (artificial grass) field belonging to a elementary or middle school (not sure which) in the area. Our first game was supposed to start at 9, but the other team never showed up, so we got roughly one hour extra time off and were considered the winners of that game by 15-0. After that, we played three other teams, where we won the first one, lost the second and *almost* won the third one. It was a really close one and a very good game as such. We had a 3 point lead before game point which we managed to lose somehow.

At Saturday night, there was a party planned. We went there and stayed for an hour or so but then we were just too tired to stay, so we went back to our house and slept. We heard the day after that we missed a good party, but on the other hand, we played better on Sunday morning than many who stayed longer at the party.

After the games on Saturday, we managed to qualify for the playoff ("slutspel" in Swedish). That means in other words that we were one of the 16 best teams in the tournament. Unfortunately, we lost both of our games today though. But even though Sunday and perhaps the tournament in general was not a big success result-wise, it was still a really good tournament for the team. It is good to play several games together with the same people, as you get to know them better, both on and off the field.

For me personally, the tournament was also good. I tried to do my best in every point I was playing, and although things didn't always go as I planned, I did pretty well. Apart from the obvious feeling of success you get from actually scoring a point, there are other things that can make you feel good about your play. For example, if you are playing defense and the person you are guarding never gets to touch the disc because you can anticipate what he's trying to do and position yourself in his way, that is a great feeling. Very much of the game is about that, read the game and outsmart your opponent.

A detail which was both annoying and funny was that it was very foggy during the weekend. Late Saturday evening during our last game for the day it was sometimes actually hard to see the white disc while it was flying because of the mist. Sometimes, it was almost even hard to see the players on the other side of the field.

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Entry Filed under: Sports